Joint Meeting with CGA-BC
This month APICS Fraser Valley teamed up with the Certified General Accountants Association of BC to host an evening of training, networking and great food at the Newlands Golf Course in Langley – always a great combination for success. Tom Senft, Chair of the CGABC Chapter and Ilona Pretorius, President of APICS Fraser Valley, welcomed the combined memberships and set the stage for a fellowship and sharing while we enjoyed the fabulous meal.
The meeting started with Rafael Zevilbil, Treasurer of the APICS BCIT Student Chapter, inviting us to attend the BCIT Operations Management Business Showcase April 17th at the Willingdon Campus Townsquare A&B. Full information is on their website at http://apics.bcitbusiness.ca/.
The evening’s guest speaker, Steve Jackson of Synchronix Technologies Inc., discussed Lean Manufacturing and the Theory of Constraints. His vast knowledge and experience with companies implementing various tactics of lean manufacturing gave the audience keen insights into the pitfalls and dangers of the system.
Highlights of Steve’s engaging presentation (and there were many) included a reference to Dr. Eli Goldratt’s book The Goal discussing the Theory of Constraints, a model for identifying barriers to success by looking at what’s holding back accomplishment of goals. Often it’s the goals that have been identified improperly. Steve reminded us that contrary to popular lore,
The goal of a business is to make more money!
We may have lost sight of this.
He described the ‘Competitive Edge’ and how it needs to be strong enough to take business away from your competitor; and the ‘Mafia Offer’ that is NEVER based on price reduction, but offers tremendous bottom-line benefits to a company. Excellent information and highly suitable for the mixed audience.
His best quote from the evening:
Tell me how you measure me, and I’ll tell you how I’ll behave.
APICS Fraser Valley meetings are a great way to earn educational credit, meet new people and have a great time. Consider joining us for our next event. Check the website for a schedule www.apics-fraservalley.org or call Ilona at (604)657-7751
March 2012 Presidents Message
Thank you all for attending the APICS Fraser Valley Continuous Improvement Award PDM to see the presentation of the BCIT Operations Management students. (http://apicsfv.com/bcit-%e2%80%98opman%e2%80%99-students-lead-the-way-for-industry/)
It was very good to see familiar faces and some new ones. We have uploaded the presentation slides for your review. (http://www.apics-fraservalley.org/uploads/files/Year1112/APICS%20ASCO.pdf)
What an eye opening presentation from the Operations Management Students – I think we should all speak to Richard as to getting a student project for our own environments.
Check that you have booked and book time in your planners for the upcoming PDM sessions, March 28th & April 25th. We will let you know as soon as we have the dates confirmed for the May plant tour.
Our joint event with the local CGA Chapter is drawing near – it will be at Newlands; in one of the larger rooms on the main floor – follow the signs to the room.
See you on the 28th of March. If the weather cooperates, I should have some new plants in the garden and starting my BBQ schedule.
Regards
Ilona Pretorius
Ilona Pretorius
BCIT ‘OpMan’ Students Lead the Way for Industry
Apics held their 2nd Annual APICS Fraser Valley Continuous Improvement Award in
partnership with the BCIT Business Operations Management Program on Hump Day,
February 29, 2012.
Over 50 members and guests were in attendance to listen to this year’s Continuous Improvement Award winners BCIT ‘OpMan’ student-trio Chris Craxton, Pratvia Thapa and Alex Osiov present the results from their fall industry research and development project with Delta firm ASCO Aerospace, a world leader in the design and manufacture of high lift devices, complex mechanical assemblies and major functional components for the aerospace industry. Twice each year BCIT students from a variety of programs engage with industry to solve complex challenges proposed by applicants who desire their services. Robert O’Carroll, Materials Manager from ASCO Aerospace, was on hand to describe the challenge his company faced and why they chose BCIT Operations Management students to help. BCIT Vice President of Education, Paul Dangerfield, also commented on the school’s close ties with industry and the success BCIT graduates enjoy in the workforce. The following video captures the highlights of the presentation.
If your company would like to invite a team of students from BCIT to work on an operations management project contact Richard Ranftl, program head at BCIT for more information (Richard_Ranftl@bcit.ca 604-451-6746). Fall projects start in September and the longer spring projects launch in January.
Other highlights of the evening included celebrating with Dale Yong who completed his CPIM, visiting with friends, meeting new ones and enjoying a great meal from the Newlands Golf Course in Langley.
The next meeting will be another joint event, this time with the CGA’s. We look forward to seeing you there!
Professional Member of the Year Award 2011
APICS Fraser Valley awarded the Professional Member of the Year award for 2010/2011 to Robert O’Carroll. We appreciate his support of the chapter and the fact that he was hosting the DSP course at his offices.
November 2011 President’s Message
Thank you all for attending the October PDM. It was great to hear how everyone is
doing and seeing the students at the events. The presentation from Chris Butterworth on Problem Solving was very well received. The presentation slide
will be uploaded to the Past chapter events page.
The November PDM will be on the topic of Demand Driven MRP – there are a lot of
improvements we can make regarding how we currently handle inventory levels in
the system. Carol Ptak & Chad Smith will do the presentation at the Nov 16th Dinner meeting.
Keep Feb 29th open in your schedule – that evening the winners of the BCIT
Operations Management student project teams will do a presentation on their
project for our chapter.
We are honored to be able to have members getting their 10Yr, 15Yr and 20 yr pins at the November Dinner. (Do feel free to congratulate Jason Young, Darren Wilk,
John McGaire and Richard Jensen.)
See you all at the November event.
Ilona Pretorius
Regards,
Ilona Pretorius
President APICS-Fraser Valley
Corporate Member of the Year Award Oct 2011
Congratulations to Helton Industries LTD.
APICS Fraser Valley awarded the Corporate Member of the Year award for 2010/2011 to Helton Industries Ltd. We appreciate their support of the chapter; opening their facility for a Plant tour in May and hosting CPIM sessions for APICS students.
President’s Message October 2011
It was great to see so many of you at the September PDM – every one energized and ready to start the new season.
Melanie Holloway did a Back to Basics presentation for the chapter – reminding us to start with the small things and work our way to the bigger things; this way we can work our way up to things that might look too large to handle at first.
A group at the attendees at the September meeting have embarked on a crusade of
desk organization – for their co-workers. Why not try to be helpful? 5S your associate’s desk today!
Keep Feb 29th open in your schedule – that evening the winners of the BCIT Operations Management student project teams will do a presentation on their project for our chapter.
Our October PDM will delve into the subject of Problem Solving – with examples from manufacturing; the speaker Chris Butterworth is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt.
See you all at the October PDM.
Regards
Ilona Pretorius
Chapter President
Ilona Pretorius
Power of Relationships
Far too often people are unable to create the desired reaction from the important people in their lives. Being able to read others and to use that information to build strong relationships is crucial. The number one indicator of job satisfaction is the quality of the relationship between an employee and his/her manager. Research conducted at Bell Labs determined that the number one indicator of success for their leaders was the capacity to build and leverage networks of personal relationships.
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Most of us are simply unaware of the effect we have on others. The key to your success is how well you relate to the people in your life. What is astonishing is that even when people know this, they ignore it. They hope that if they are competent enough in their work they will be able to get away with not playing nice in the sandbox. No one does it alone; the farther you go, the more you will depend on others. This is simply a fact. Creating effective relationships and accomplishing things with others can be easy, as long as a careful approach is employed.
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Make a list of all the people you work with and consider how likely they are to lend you a hand with something you might be trying to accomplish. To build and maintain a rock-solid network of relationships that will help you, you must: Identify what is in it for the other person to help you; Understand what the other person has to lose; Recognize the beliefs, personality type and thinking style of the other person; and Genuinely care about them and show it.
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No one will help you unless they can see what’s in it for them. There, we said it. And like it or not, it’s true. Understanding and using it wisely is simply smart. We are not trying to say that every person around you is motivated by selfish gain, only that everyone is motivated by something specific and that you have to understand what that is.
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We find that the people who are most effective in building and leveraging relationships understand others profoundly, often better than they understand themselves. Once you get a take on what is driving someone else, it is often easy to help them and, by so doing, help them help you along the way. And here’s the hard part: you must help them without the expectation of receiving anything in return. Actually understanding other people and helping them move along their path is one of the most powerful things you can do to get
the help you need.
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Source:
Leverage Your Best Ditch the Rest by Scott Blanchard and Madeleine Homan
Regards,
Tim McKinnon
Tim McKinnon, LPBC
Business Coach
Stride Business Coaching Inc.
tim@stridebusinesscoaching.com
www.stridebusinesscoaching.com
Withholding Recognition
In withholding your recognition of another person’s contribution to a team’s
success, you are depriving people of the emotional payoff that comes with
success. They feel forgotten, ignored, pushed to the side. And they resent you
for it. If you really want to tick people off, don’t recognize their contributions.
In training programs, when I ask participants, “How many of you think you need to do a better job of recognizing others for their great work?” without fail eight
out of ten people raise their hands. When I ask them why they fail at recognition,
the answers say more about the people responding than the people who aren’t
being recognized. “I just got too busy.” “I just expected everyone to do great work.” “I never realized how important it was to them.” “I was never recognized for my great work—why should they be?”
A hallmark of successful people is they become great achievers because of their
intense focus on themselves – their career, their performance, their progress, their needs. But there’s a difference between being an achiever and a leader. Successful people become great leaders when they learn to shift the focus from themselves to others.
One of my clients taught me a wonderful technique for improving in the area of providing recognition.
1. He first made a list of all of the important groups of people in his life (friends, family, direct reports, customers, etc.).
2. He then wrote down the names of every important person in each group.
3. Twice a week, on Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon, he would review the list of names and ask himself, “Did someone on this page do something that I should
recognize?”
4. If the answer was “yes” he gave them some very quick recognition, either by phone, e-mail, voice mail, or a note. If the answer was “no” he did nothing.
He didn’t want to be a phony.
Within one year this executive’s reputation for providing positive recognition improved from poor to excellent. He was amazed at how little time this took.
Of all the interpersonal slights we make in our professional or private lives, not
providing recognition may be the one that endures most deeply in the minds of
the slighted.
Source: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
Tim McKinnon
Tim McKinnon, LPBC
tim@stridebusinesscoaching.com
High-Trust People Clarify Expectations
